the forgiveness project
by flustered dreams
Summary: maya had to chose to forgive someone... she knew it would be hard. why did she even chose him?


**I post way too much, lol.** **Ah, who cares? (Unless there is a rule about that... *chuckling nervously* There isn't one, right?)**

 **Anyways, let's get started with my weird... thing... that I'll now be doing every time I post...**

 **Ten Facts About Me (not including any from my bio or profile)**

 **1\. I have broken an arm and a finger**

 **2\. I have gone to Italy, Paris, London, Greece, the Bahamas, Minnesota, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Texas, New York, Washington D.C, Idaho, Florida, California, Nprth Carolina, Arizona, New Mexico, and... I believe that is it.**

 **3\. I LOVE SABRINA CARPENTER**

 **4\. I have five main friends in my life (but I'm WAY open to earning more)**

 **5\. My birthday is May 11, 2002. (Yes, I'm fourteen).**

 **6\. I have original stories (not fanfics) that I want to post on here...**

 **7\. I have a wattpad and three instagrams. (Instas - main:** ** __oldsoul_youngheart_** **, drawing/fan girl account:** ** _freespirit_wildimagination_** **, random account that I still haven't yet posted on: _sophie_** ** ___** ** _elizabeth_foster_ ) (Wattpad - ****__short_stack__** **)**

 **8\. I have blonde hair and blue eyes. I am 5"1.**

 **9\. I have glasses, but will normally wear contacts.**

 **10\. I am HORRIBLE at Algebra 1. AND IT'S ONLY** ** _1_** **!**

 **Now, onto the story!**

 **Side note: Full sections in italics are meant to be like flashback of sorts**

"You know what's best for her?! I'm her mother! You're barely around here a full seven days a week!"

"There you go again with those excuses, just trying to turn this conversation around on me!"

"I am not doing that! Stop trying to make me feel guilty! This is about Maya! We are talking about this for Maya's sake! We're discussing about how you need to be a better father toward her!"

"I am a completely fine father! It's you that's messed up!"

Maya sat in between the coats in the closet, hugging her knees to her chest with one hand with holding her heart shaped locket with the other. It was popped open and she stared at her flawless family in the photo.

Her beautiful mother with her shoulder length blonde hair and her green eyes.

Her roguish, handsome father with his sea-foam green eyes and his blonde hair alongside his mother's.

Naturally, Maya inherited the blonde hair -which was medium length for her, and curly/wavy.

She had stormy gray-blue eyes and a pale complexion. She was rather short for her age along with a slim and athletic toned body.

She wiped away tears from her eyes and covered her ears with her hands.

The fight her parents were having had been going on for so long, she didn't even remember what it had even been about at the beginning. Something involving her? Or did she just get randomly pulled into the conversation over time?

"You're being irrational!"

"Oh, for goodness sake, Katy..." Her father groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"No, don't do that! Do not try and turn this around on me like you always do! You know what you did!"

"Oh, uh, yeah? And what about what you did? Shall we go down that road again?"

"I'm done with you," her mother snarled. "I can't do this fighting thing anymore."

Maya quickly took her hands off from her ears.

"Me neither," her father shot back.

Maya heard her father shuffling around the kitchen and then grabbing things.

"What are you doing?" Katy demanded.

"I said I'm done," her father answered and then Katy took a collective gasp as Maya heard the front door slam closed.

Maya's spine tingled and her eyes blurred with more tears as her mind became a jumbled mess, swarming with thoughts.

 _He had promised her though..._

*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•

 _"Kermit, I've gotta tell you something," Katy said seriously._

 _Kermit stopped what he was doing and approached her. "What? What is it?"_

 _She took a seat and sat up straight. "I know we're only eighteen and we're not married or anything but... Ok, don't laugh at my question."_

 _He shook his head. "I won't."_

 _"Ok, well... How would you feel about having a... I don't know... Baby?"_

 _Kermit's brows closed together. "Baby?"_

 _"Mhmm. A baby girl, to be precise."_

 _Kermit stared at his girlfriend incredulously. What was she talking about? "I don't know. I guess. Why are you asking me this?"_

 _Katy shrugged and a tiny smile crept to the corners of her mouth. "I'm not sure. I was just thinking about what we should name her, though, too." Katy placed her hand on her flat lower abdomen and Kermit got the message._

 _"You're serious right now?!"_

 _She giggled. "Yes,_

 _•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•_

 _"Maya. What a beautiful name for such a beautiful girl." Katy said as she held her daughter for the first time._

 _Kermit and her had not too long ago been married, just so they knew they were in this together._

 _Kermit came through the hospital door, breathless. "Where...?"_

 _Katy smiled and motioned for him to come over. Kermit slowly approached her hospital bed, awestruck that this was actually happening._

 _He had been at work and Katy had insisted she would be fine on her own at home. Then, she had started to go into labor while he was away and had to call the neighbors to cork over and help her. They drove her to the hospital and a couple hours later, Maya Penelope Hart was born._

 _After Kermit finally got off work, he had gone home and then hit a call about his wife being in the hospital before he even stepped out of the car. So, he then rushed over to the hospital._

 _"She's... So tiny." Kermit whispered._

 _Katy beamed. "Yeah. She's a little smaller and underweight than average, so we'll have to stay in the hospital a bit longer, but she's alive."_

 _Kermit didn't want to tell Katy, but now that he laid eyes on the small child, he didn't know if he could really do it. Become a parent, that is._

 _He was nervous. This was a child and he had to raise it._

 _*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•_

 _Maya was four and she already knew her parents fought. A lot._

 _But, they tried to hide and deny it._

 _Every time she came into the room they were fighting in, they'd pause and wait until she left the room to start again._

 _Her dad didn't really talk to her and was mostly gone all week at work. He would get home late and get up and leave early._

 _All she really saw of her dad was a little on the weekends, when he wasn't arguing with her mom._

 _But, she found out how to live with it. The only problem with how and where she couldn't deal with it was when she was at preschool._

 _"Ok, class, today for art we will be drawing our family's. Alright?"_

 _A student at the same round table with Maya raised their hand._

 _"Yes, Carter?" The teacher asked._

 _"What about broken families?"_

 _The teacher frowned. "What do you mean by that?"_

 _"I mean the blonde shortie over here. Her family is broken. I always see her mom and dad fighting. And one day I heard she was after school real late because her dad forgot to pick her up. Actually, I've heard that one a lot."_

 _Maya gasped as her lip quivered and her hand shot to her mouth. Her eyes welled up with tears._

 _"Carter!" The teacher scolded as she rushed to comfort Maya._

 _*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*_

 _"Mr. Hart, I know you are a very busy man, but I do need you to try to pick up your daughter on time."_

 _"I know," Maya's father huffed as he took her small pale hand in his. He walked down the hall with Maya and then out the front doors of the school._

 _He pulled up Maya's ladybug raincoat hood and they walked together down the sidewalk to get to his car in the parking lot._

 _"Daddy?" Maya squeaked once they got to the car and her father held open the door for Maya._

 _"Get in," he said._

 _"Daddy," she repeated, louder._

 _"What is it?" He asked with a sigh._

 _She looked down at her matching ladybug rain boots and curled and uncurled her toes inside them nervously as her curly glittery blonde hair fell into her face and shielded it like a curtain. "Are you going to leave Mommy?"_

 _Kermit frowned. "N-no, Peaches. Why would you think that?"_

 _Maya shamefully shrugged. "I donno, you just... Fight a lot."_

 _Kermit took a deep breath and squatted down so he was eye level with her. She lifted up her head and looked at him. He brushed the blonde curls behind her ears. "I won't leave you."_

 _"Pinky promise?" Maya asked, holding out her tiny pinky._

 _Kermit wrapped his pinky with Maya's. "Pinky promise."_

*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*

A few weeks passed and Kermit didn't return after he had stormed out of the house on the one night of their fight.

Every night, it seemed, her mother would go into her bedroom and cry, and Maya could her it in her bedroom, so she couldn't sleep.

She got up on some occasional nights and would go to her mother's bedroom door, then knock.

She would hear Katy sniffle then ask, "What is it, baby girl?" from inside her room, but she would never open the door.

"Please don't cry, Mommy. I love you. Don't cry."

And that would only send Katy bawling more.

"Would you stop crying if I brought Daddy back? Mommy? Are you listening?"

And Katy could not hear over herself sobbing, so Maya would crawl back to bed and hope for the best.

The only thing she was sure of was that her Daddy was gone.

*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•

"Here we go, baby girl. Our new home."

Katy put the key into the lock of the apartment door and turned it. It made a satisfy 'click' noise and Katy pulled out the key as the door then was swing open. A whiff of dust flew into her and Maya's face.

Katy fanned it away and stepped inside while Maya coughed and entered, too.

Katy closed the door and the flicked on a light switch, illuminating the entryway.

Maya cringed.

The floorboards were creaky as she walked and their was a mysterious stain on the wallpaper that was peeling off.

There was a old frayed carpet on the floor that smelled of mildew.

Maya hugged her stuffed animal rabbit closer as she shivered and could we her breath in the hallway.

Katy started messing with some dial on the wall and then frowned. "Hmm. Guess the heating doesn't work. I'll have to check on that."

"Mommy?"

"Hold on, Maya. Mommy is busy," Katy shushed as she kept fiddling with the dial. "C'mon, you stupid machine. Work!"

Katy gave it a good hit.

"Mommy?"

"Maya, I said hold on," Katy said, her eyes still glued to the dial. She gave it another THWAK! and when it didn't work she sighed annoyingly and stormed down the hall.

"Mommy!" Maya called.

"Maya, I thought I said HOLD ON! I'm checking if the plumbing works."

Maya heard the gurgled flush of a toilet that obviously didn't flush all the way because Maya heard Katy curse as water streamed into the hallway from the room Katy had gone into.

Katy reappeared in the hallway and then went straight back to the dial.

"Mommy?"

Katy groaned and the turned to her. "What is it, Maya?"

"Why can't we live with Daddy anymore?"

Katy frowned and went over to her daughter, squaring down. "Because, Peaches. Daddy... Daddy doesn't want us living with him anymore. This is our new home."

"But I want to live with Daddy again," four-year-old Maya blubbered. "This place is scary."

"I know, baby. But in time we'll make it the best house ever, ok?"

"And you won't leave me, too?"

"I'll never leave you."

Maya held out her pinky. "Pinky promise?"

Katy wrapped her pinky around Maya's. "Pinky promise."

*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•

Maya lowered the stack of papers of her long essay and took a deep breath.

The classroom full of her fellow eight graders erupted with applauding.

"Thank you for sharing that with us, Maya." The teacher said after the clapping died down. "That was a very detailed essay you read to us. And very heart felting and emotional. I imagine it was a little hard to share."

"It was," Maya agreed as she fiddled with a button on her leather jacket.

"So, since this is called the Forgiveness Project, whom in that whole background story did you decide to try and forgive?"

"My father," Maya croaked.

"For...?" The teacher pressed.

"Leaving me and my mom."

The teacher nodded in understanding. "And did you succeed in forgiving him?"

Maya sighed. "No, sir. I couldn't forgive him for what he'd done. I did however become not angry at him anymore."

The teacher chuckled. "This is one of the reasons why I specifically chose this assignment for everyone to do."

Maya frowned and the class around her seemed confused as well. "Why?"

"Because I knew a little about your background and knew you were going to be in my class this year. So, I knew you were going to chose your father and you were going to try your best to forgive him, but I also knew you wouldn't."

"Then why'd you make me do this assignment and everything?"

He broke into laughter then became serious again. "Because I knew you would forgive someone else along the way."

"Who?"

The teacher smiled warmly. "Your mother told me you thought it was your fault that he left. So, tell me, did you forgive yourself?"

Maya's eyes welled up and she smiled. "... I did, Mr. Matthews... I did..."

*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•

THE END


End file.
